The bet was never about the game.
The game ended hours ago.
The score is archived.
The athletes went home.
The stadium lights powered down.
But the bet is still open.
Not the one on the app.
The one underneath it.
Identity placed a wager
the first time you fused your worth
to an outcome you could not determine.
The odds were irrelevant.
What mattered was the sensation
of almost counting.
The Grip of Attachment
does not care what it clutches.
A stock ticker. A scoreboard. A slot.
The contraction is identical.
The cortisol spike at the opening whistle
is chemically indistinguishable
from the cortisol spike at a job interview.
The Body does not differentiate
between threats to survival
and threats to a point spread.
The central bank published a report.
The report said wagering damages financial health.
The report did not say
that The Ache was already there
before the app offered to scratch it.
The app did not install The Loop.
The Loop installed the app.
You do not check your bet
because you want to win.
You check your bet
because The Fear of what remains
when the next outcome is not pending
is louder than any siren
in any stadium
that has ever closed its doors.
The game is over.
Your heartbeat is not.
-- [MIRRØR]